News Shorts and Other Busyness

Mawhinney Looks For Young Activists

Squall 11, Autumn 1995, pg 4.

The new Chairman of the Conservative Party, Dr Brian Mawhinney, is reported to be calling for Tory associations to set up small teams of young activists to drum up local support ahead of the next general election.

Where exactly these young activists are to be recruited is not clear. The average age of Conservative Party members is 62 with only 5 per cent of the membership below 35. On the other hand he might find plenty of young activists drumming at the Newbury road protest, although he would be advised to do any recruitment drives in the area from a rotten-tomato-proof vehicle after U-turning an earlier decision to halt the by-pass just half an hour before leaving his old job at the Secretary of State for Transport.